The last time I needed an emergency rabies shot it was nearly $40k USD. If I hadn’t had absolutely bangin’ insurance through my union I would have been absolutely fucked.
this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2026
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Chapotraphouse
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wtf.. I thought those were free everywhere.
Nope. The initial shot is exorbitantly expensive — I think my bill said somewhere in the ballpark of $15k, plus the emergency room visit. Plus it’s a series of shots with subsequent shots administered on days 3, 7, and 14 plus you’re paying for those office visits in addition to the vaccine.
Edit: I will say that the more rural you are the more expensive it will be. There’s the obvious reasons, of course, but the big thing is that the immune globulin has a really short shelf life, and basically only major metropolitan areas have it. If you are in a rural area it will need to be couriered in. For me, this happened at around midnight in a super rural area so that really added to my expense.
Just want to point out that this is likely because the “initial” vaccine given when potentially exposed isn’t one vaccine. The vaccine itself can be given prophylactically and often for cheap/free at a local health department/doctors office. However, when you show up to an emergency room with an exposure, you get the vaccine (which is about half a cc injection) along with (the likely much more expensive) rabies immune globulin, which is first injected around the bite and any remainder given intramuscularly. The Immune globulin is weight based, so it can often be a much large volume. Given that you were “billed” 40k, this also likely means you went to an emergency department (which is the right call imo) in the US … this generally means that your bill exploded into a crazy number that is often mostly disregarded by the insurance company, either because it is viewed as a negotiation point, or because it is heavily subsidized by the government (EMTALA had subsidized all ER care, but less so after the ACA… people now must also pay a flat ER fee to the insurance company, typically a few hundred dollars)
Yes this is a good write up, and you are correct: Immune Globulin is the real expensive piece.
For yall wondering, from what I understand, the immune globulin has a super short shelf life, which means it’s often discarded before use which inflates the price significantly. Further, since so much gets discarded and demand is relatively low, most supplies of the stuff are in more densely populated areas. As I mentioned below, I went to a middle-of-nowhere ER late at night which was a several hours drive away from the nearest available immune globulin which needed to be couriered to my location which also inflated the price tremendously, I’m sure.
And yes, ER is definitely the right call. Rabies is 100% gonna kill you, and the vaccine is 100% gonna save your ass. The sooner you can get to a hospital and get the immune globulin the better. If you can secure and/or dispatch the animal that bit you and have it tested for rabies, that would be ideal but that very often is simply not possible. My understanding is that many major state universities in the U.S. offer rabies testing, but uh, don’t quote me.
I think I'm gonna start seriously leaning into the idea that Trump is an executioner brought in by the wealthy to solve climate change via mass social murder.
I mean that's supported by the way these fuckers talked about population in the Epstein emails
Wear a mask!
While I don’t disagree with the sentiment, a mask won’t really help much for any of the above listed viruses if you’ve come in physical contact with anyone infected.
I know. Don't care. Fucking mask. The entire balance of what one might call "natural herd immunity" is collapsing, and they are speeding up the process at every opportunity. Mask.
is nergal trying to resurrect smallpox?
You can't have a problem if you don't acknowledge it.
